Video monitoring systems are widely deployed for various purposes, which include security and public safety. In a typical video monitoring system, one or more cameras are deployed in different locations to monitor activities. For example, video monitoring systems generate images of public places, transportation facilities, retail stores, industrial facilities, and residences and other private property. The monitoring systems often include data storage devices that archive some or all of the recorded video for later review, and one or more video output devices that enable playback of live and archived video data.
In some monitoring systems, the cameras generate video data that are monitored by one or more human operators who can view activity in the video and take appropriate action if they view an incident. For example, in a monitoring system at a retail store, the operator views live video of individuals in the store and alerts security personal if an individual attempts to shoplift merchandise. In another example, operators monitor the video feeds from traffic cameras that monitor busy sections of highways to spot traffic accidents or traffic congestion. The operators contact emergency response personnel if an accident occurs and then they broadcast traffic alerts to inform other drivers in the heavy traffic sections.
More broadly, the operators that monitor the video monitoring systems typically take an action when the recorded video depicts a “high-interest event.” As described above, the precise nature of a high-interest event varies between different contexts and the mission of the operators using the video monitoring system. As used herein, the term “high-interest event” refers to any event in the recorded video data that prompts an operator of the video monitoring system to take an action. Actions include, but are not limited to, contacting other personnel with information based on an event that is depicted in the video, reviewing additional archived video footage prior to the event occurring, or monitoring a subject in the video after the event occurs more closely to track the activity of the subject.
In addition to high-interest events, the video data typically contain “low-interest events.” As used herein, the term “low-interest event” refers to any event or lack of event that does not prompt the operator to take an action. For example, in the traffic monitoring system described above, a car driving along a road as part of a routine traffic flow is a low-interest event. In a retail store video monitoring system, an empty aisle with no activity is another low-interest event. The video data generated in many video monitoring systems includes predominantly low-interest events with more occasional high-interest events being intermingled with the low-interest events in an unpredictable fashion.
While video monitoring systems are used in a wide range of applications, the human operators that operate the systems often miss high-interest events. In some instances, the video monitoring system collects too much video for a limited number of human operators to review effectively. Additionally, as the human operators review video with only low-interest events occurring for a prolonged time, the human operators lose the ability to focus on the video and can fail to recognize high-interest events. Consequently, improvements to video monitoring systems that enable operators to identify a greater proportion of high-interest events that are recorded in the video data would be beneficial.